Improvement in water-wheels



i@ aient dtt'tita H'ENRY W. SHIPLEY, OF PORTLAND, OREGON.

Letters 'Patent No. 103,513, dated May 24, 1870.

The Scheule referred to in these Letters Patent nd making part of thesame.

- To all whom it may concern: i

Be it known that I, HENRY W. SIIIrLnY, of Portland, in the county ofMultnomah and State of Oregon, have invented a new and ImprovedVater-Wheel; and I do hereby declare that theifollowing is a full,clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of thesame, reference being had to the accompanying drawings making`a part ofthis specification, in which- Figure 1 is a. transverse vertical sectionof wheel -and easing; and

Figure 2 is a similar section, showing the concavity of the wheel, thecasing being removed and a tripod support substituted. v

rlhis invention relates to constructing a wheel with internal buckets,in such a manner that the water is directed to the outside of the rim,and held as far as possible from the Aaxis during the revolution, so asto obtain its greatest power, the buckets being made exceedinglyshallow, and their capacity preserved by widening them and increasingthe depthof therwheeh' there being threerows of buckets, and, inconnection with them, a system of internal casing; the object of thusconstructing a water-wheel being to utilize to the fullest extent thepower of water during dry seasons, andto ta-ke advantage of smallstreams, inasmuch as, by the use of the outside casing, every drop ofthe water can be saved, and a great amount of leakage prevented.

For low heads the wheel is constructed to work on a vertical 'sha-ft, m,outside the internal casing M q c and guide-boxes.

'lhe rim of the wheel is made very wide, and is provided with threeseparate rows of shallow internal buckets H W S, the central row, W W,receiving the water fi'om the internal guide-boxes, and discharging itat the periphery of the wheel, whence it escapes at the bottom, theupper row, S, receiving the water in the same manner, and discharging'it at. openings at the top, whence it falls down the outside or end ofthe wheel, as its construction may be, and the lower row, H, receivingthe water in the same manner, and discharging it directly into thewaste-way, through openings at tbe bottom of the wheel.

The central rowis inclosed between two internal projecting rings, yyftheother rows lying between the rings and the upperand lower edges of therims respectively said row is constructed of a series of single curvedplates g, tig. 2, their inner ends being ush with the inner edges of.the rings y, and'their outer ends being flush with the outer surface ofthe rings.

The side buckets are made very deep, and are quite narrow. The verticaldepth of the wheel is nearly equal to three-fourths of its insidediameter.

The wheel works on the outside of the internal cusing, which it closelyfits, and the water is let upon it through a series of openings, b b,around the interior of the casing, and directed upon the buckets H W Sby means of curved guides.

A ring-gate, 12 12, is arranged inside ofthe guides, which it closelyfits, and is opened and closed in any convenient manner. When only asmall amount of power is required the ring-gate 12 12 is raised to thewidth of the lower row of buckets.v When two-thirds of its power isrequired, the gate is drawn to the width of the middle row of buckets.When the whole power ot' the wheel is required the gate is drawn thewhole width of the buckets.

The hub 15, platel l, and rings 16 16, vale secured to the inner edgesot thebuckets H.

lhe ring M M, ig. 1, with projecting auge a a, internal projectingflange g g, and curved plate c c,

are so'arranged as to form the internal casingand' guide-box.

The passages b b, iig. 1, are not wide enough to admit the water to thewhole width of the buckets H and S, but only to about one-half thiswidth.

The water is delivered to the whole width ot the l central buckets W Wwhen the wheel is constructed to .work under very low heads.

The bridge-tree or tripodt that supports the lower end of the shaft m,is constructed and arranged so that its legs fit the under side ofprojecting flange aa, fig. 1. The tripod is designed to support thewheel when it is practicableor desirable to dispense with the casing. l

This arrangement offers little obstruction to the discharge.

It is a well-known fact among mill men that waterwheels constructed towork under low heads, of from two to four feet fall, require to beconstructed so as to use a great many cubic feet of water per minute,and the less the water is retarded in flowing away from the wheel thegreater the gain. v

When the wheel is constructed to work in a vertical shaft, under highheads, it is arranged. inside a cylindrical tube, 22, with flanges, x x,at each end, which are attached to the projecting flanges ,a a, tig.'2,of the internal casing. At the opposite end the bridge tree G Gr isarranged that supports one end of the wheelshaft m, and at thisend aange is arranged to receive the end of the draft-tube when the wheel issetto work.

To the opposite side of projecting flange a a the cylindricalcasing-tube z e is attached, at right angles with the head 21, thebranch pipe 19 19 being arranged with ange 20 to receive thesupply-pipe.

When the wheel is const-ructedfto work in ahorizontal shaft bothsections of the cylindrical casingtubes are changed from a vertical to ahorizontal posit-ion.

Having thus described my invention,

That I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1.*The combination of three separate rows of intex-rml buckets H W S, Hhaving a. downwaI-LS and upward, and W :t circumferential discharge, asshown and described.

2. The combination of the rim l P with the rings y y and buckets H W,'as nud for the purpose described.

3. The arrangement of the pitite ll, hub 15,;md

projecting rin'g r1,6 16 with the'vbuckets H, as and forthe purposeV setforth. i

4. The ring M M, provided. with projecting alnges

